Missing AuthorizationWeakness · CWE-862

CVE-2025-62970

MEDIUM · 5.3 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-27
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Missing Authorization vulnerability in Spencer Haws Link Whisper Free link-whisper allows Exploiting Incorrectly Configured Access Control Security Levels.This issue affects Link Whisper Free: from n/a through <= 0.9.2.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

The Link Whisper Free WordPress plugin (versions <= 0.9.2) contains a missing authorization vulnerability that allows attackers to exploit incorrectly configured access control security levels. This likely permits unauthenticated or unauthorized users to access privileged link management functionality that should require higher privileges.

MitigationUpdate Link Whisper Free to the latest version, or implement proper authorization checks (capability checks and nonce verification) on all sensitive functions and AJAX endpoints.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
Low
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate Link Whisper Free plugin installation
    Check for the plugin directory at wp-content/plugins/link-whisper-free/ and locate the main plugin file (typically link-whisper-free.php) to read the version header comment
    Affected if The plugin directory exists and the version header shows a version number <= 0.9.2
  2. Verify installed version from WordPress admin
    Navigate to WordPress admin dashboard > Plugins > Installed Plugins, locate Link Whisper Free, and confirm the version displayed
    Affected if The displayed version is <= 0.9.2 or no version number is shown (older installations may not display version)
  3. Inspect plugin AJAX endpoints for authorization
    Examine the plugin PHP files for AJAX action hooks (add_action with wp_ajax_) and check if they include capability checks (current_user_can) or nonce verification before executing sensitive link management functions
    Affected if AJAX endpoints handling link creation, modification, or deletion lack current_user_can() capability checks or wp_verify_nonce() nonce verification
  4. Test unauthenticated access to link management
    Send a direct POST request to the plugin AJAX endpoint (typically /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php with action=link_whisper_*) without providing authentication credentials or valid nonce, then observe if the request is processed or rejected
    Affected if The server returns a success response or processes the request instead of returning an authorization error (like 403 or 'You do not have permission')

A user is affected if Link Whisper Free version <= 0.9.2 is installed and the plugin's AJAX endpoints for link management are accessible without proper capability or nonce verification.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update Link Whisper Free to the latest version, or implement proper authorization checks (capability checks and nonce verification) on all sensitive functions and AJAX endpoints.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2025-62970 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2025-62970 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data